Business Coaching

What is the one thing your company does that others in your category don’t do? Is it a method of delivery?

Is it customer service?

Or is it something else that uniquely defines your business, a unique way you manufacture your product, or an interesting geographic location?

Whatever it is, identify it, define and it and start using it to differentiate yourself in the market place.

Don’t think that a “commodity” product can have a USP? Just go online and look at how the grass seed company Scotts markets its “Turf Builder” line of grass seed.

Don’t know if a “small” company can define itself against a larger competitor? Pick up a copy of the book about the US-based company, In-N-Out Burger, which beats McDonald’s in terms of overall profitability and same-store sales, with fewer stores and less menu items.

Wonder if you can profit in your small niche? Take a look at Porsche, which targets a select few customers at a very high product performance level and price point, and in turn, is one of the most profitable car makers around.

Next, offer a guarantee.

While every business is required to make good on its products or services, add some extra value to your guarantee, and make it part of your overall customer experience.

For years, top-tier retailers have all had generous guarantee and return policies, and those policies have only strengthened customer loyalty to their stores.

Can you make your guarantee stand out? Can it become the industry standard?

If so, start telling your customers and your prospects and start making it a distinction you can sell in the marketplace.

And don’t worry about getting ripped-off with a strong guarantee. Sure, some will take advantage. But in the end, your reputation and additional sales will more than make up for the single digit percentages that look to scam you or take advantage of your policies.

Once you do these two things, not only will your marketing efforts start to generate real results, you’ll be able to compete on everything other than price.

You’ll also find once you and your customers get price out of the way, you’ll be a lot more creative in your added value propositions, your marketing and your customer service. You’ll also have much bigger numbers on your bottom-line.

From the car wash to the grocery store, you barely have to talk to a person to buy a product or service these days.

But one supermarket chain has decided it’s time to buck the trend of automated, self-serve checkout lines and get back to good, old-fashioned customer service.

Big Y, which is celebrating its 75th year in business in 2011, has decided to remove self- serve checkout from all of its 61 stores in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

“Our self checkout technology could not deliver on the service needs of our customers,” Big Y Vice President for Information Resources and Technology, Michael A. Tami said. “We were not able to provide the exceptional customer service through them that has made Big Y what it is today. While other chains are opting to replace cashiers with more self checkouts, we are adding cashiers to service more standard lanes.”

Self-serve checkout originated in the supermarket industry as a response to long lines at major supermarkets. But research has shown that self- serve checkout lanes often take customers more time than the standard, employee-staffed lanes and lack the customer service that many customers have come to expect.

And Big Y isn’t alone. Albertson’s, a major supermarket on the West Coast of the United States is also removing self checkouts.

This story highlights something that the Business Coaches at ActionCOACH have been preaching for years: don’t be afraid to change.

Big Y must have felt they were on the cutting edge and stepping into the modern age when they installed self checkout in 2003, but when they realized they weren’t getting the return on their investment, they decided it was time to cut their losses and get back to what they knew best: customer service.

So can your business make a change, discover it was the wrong move and have the flexibility to go back the old way or find a better way? Are you a flexible enough leader to make those changes when necessary?

Besides less expensive flights, Southwest Airlines is widely known for its customer service.

How important is customer service to your business?

A recent American Express poll showed that 61% of Americans felt that customer service was more important to them now because of the economy. More importantly, 9% of Americans said they would be willing to pay more for services if the company gave them outstanding customer service.

American consumers are also more likely to come back to a business if they’ve gotten quality customer service. Almost 81% would come back again, while almost 52% said they wouldn’t return to businesses that offered poor customer service.

A great example of quality customer service and its positive effect on the bottom line is Southwest Airlines. Southwest has been one of the most profitable airlines in the world over the last decade and that can be directly attributed to their attitude about customer service.

They consider themselves a customer service company that just happens to provide airline transportation to their customers and that has led to stability and growth.

Remember, over the long haul, your business cannot be faster, cheaper or even better than other businesses all the time. It’s just not possible. But businesses should be consistent and, more importantly, have a strong team that can deal with challenges and assuage any issues your customers might have.

For this reason alone, customer service is incredibly important and can be the difference between your company succeeding and failing.

In your non-business life, do you like to deal with people that are unpleasant, uninformed or just generally clueless?

If you don’t, then why would you want to deal with them when making a purchase?

Employees are hired for a reason and should be trained to provide pleasant, informed customer service. If they aren’t pleasant and well-informed, that is a management issue that needs to be resolved.

Creating quality customer service has never been more important for any business’ bottom line, as the results of the latest American Express poll shows. Check out the survey here.

How does customer service affect your business? Do you think you could create more customers if you and your team focused on customer service?